Season › 2013-14 › News

Jagielka proud of clean disciplinary record

Everton Captain, Phil Jagielka, is just a little bit proud of a remarkable ability to avoid getting yellow cards; he was booked just once last season and is yet to pick up a yellow card this season.

A sign of his experience and his excellent reading of the game, Jagielka's record is remarkable in an age of trigger-happpy referees and inconsistent standards of officiating.

“It's a case of deciding when and when not to go for the ball," the England international says. "You need to impose yourself on the game, but at the same time that doesn't mean going into the back of a striker or midfielder and giving silly free kicks away.

“It's not that I don't tackle but to a certain extent it's difficult these days to play with a yellow card on your head, especially at the back with the pace of the game can be so hectic.

“So I prefer not to get booked — then, at least if something does go wrong during a game and you do have to make a borderline challenge, at least you have ‘one life' left so to speak.”

“We talk about [timing] a lot and I don't think Sylvain gets booked much either,” Jagielka continues. Sylv's a big strong boy too, so it's about timing, and knowing how hard to go in too." His central defensive partner, Distin, was carded only twice last season.

“The way the game is these days it doesn't take a lot to get a booking. You just need to use your head. I take a little bit of pride in it and I take a bit of stick as well when the lads rib me for not getting so many bookings."

Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Echo

---

---

---

About these ads